Writer/Actor/Filmmaker

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I’ll be at Georgia Thespian Conference this weekend teaching my Act Like A Pro Wrestler workshop for the over 5,000 high school theatre students from throughout Georgia. If you’re attending, come on out & let loose your inner superstar! I’ll also be giving two talkbacks on Friday talking about my experiences in film, theatre, & comedy, with a focus on taking a DIY approach to your career.

I was recently asked for a list of audition advice from a student in the Audition Techniques class at my old stomping grounds, Valdosta State University. I decided to post them here as well, in the hopes that it may be helpful to some other actors out there.

These notes are more from my experience casting my feature film Uncommon Law than from my experiences as an actor. Several of these notes apply specifically to the submission process, before you even walk in the door (while sifting through hundreds of submissions, I was amazed at how much of an opinion I developed based solely on who actually followed instructions.)

If the casting notice asks you to send a preferred audition time, please do so, even if it’s just to say you have no preference (this is fine with me, because it tells me I can put you wherever is slow.) If you don’t make any mention of it, I’m going to fill slots with those who followed instructions first.

It’s one thing to say which role you’re interested in, but you don’t need to tell me what types of roles you’re normally cast as. I’ll see it on your resume, your headshot, and in your audition.

Get professional headshots! Even if you can’t afford a $500 package, you can still get quality headshots affordably. And believe me, it makes a much better impression than sending a photo taken with a camera phone (yes, I had people submit selfies as headshots.)

On that same note, get headshots that look like you! I want to know what you’re going to look like when you walk in the room. If your headshot makes you look like an ingenue, I expect an ingenue when I call you in. If you’re a character actor, embrace it! I did.

Format that resume! Looking at a resume makes it clear pretty quick who knows what a professional acting resume looks like. Basic format aside, it should never be longer than one page. Also, save your resume as a PDF file when emailing it. That way you can be sure it will preserve your formatting and be read on any computer.

A cover letter makes all the difference in the world. I don’t need your life story, but something short, professional, and targeted (specific to my project) does make an impression. Sending a blank email that only includes your headshot & resume makes an impression, too, but the impression is that you’re submitting to everything under the sun without actually reading the casting notice.

When submitting through email, name the files for your headshot and resume “Your Name Headshot” and “Your Name Resume,” or even just “Your Name.” I save these to my computer for future reference, and would rather not have to rename all of them from DSCF_001829. I don’t hold this against anyone, it just makes my life simpler.

Be prepared! If you are sent sides in advance, READ THEM. I don’t expect you to be off book; in fact, I’d prefer that you weren’t because I don’t want you focusing on remembering the words. But read through the sides and be familiar with them. If you aren’t given the sides in advance, show up early so you can familiarize yourself with them.

Make a definite choice for your reading. Even if it’s not what I’m looking for, I want to see that you’ve put some thought into it. It’s easier to direct someone who’s made a choice than someone who’s playing it safe.

If you don’t understand something, whether it’s a line or a direction, please ask. I want you to have the best audition possible, and don’t want you to flounder because you’re confused.

If you ask to improvise off the script, you’d better be able to improvise. Don’t get thrown off because the reader improvises along with you, and it doesn’t go in exactly the direction you’d imagined in your head. Also, if the reason you want to improvise is because the written lines aren’t things you would personally say in that particular situation, you may want to keep that to yourself.

Be friendly & personable! If I like you, I’m much more likely to want to work with you. This factors in more than you may think.

That guy in the lobby who signed you in? No, you aren’t paranoid. He is listening in on everything being said.

If for whatever reason you can’t make it to the audition, call or send an email saying so. Yes, I keep a list of people who no show on me without notice. No, they won’t be getting an audition slot in the future.

This Friday I open “Christmas Belles” at the Rosewater Theatre in Roswell, GA. It’s a fun show about all hell breaking loose at a church in Texas on Christmas Eve. I play Justin Waverly, the interim pastor who’s trying desperately to propose to one of the daughters. I’m really enjoying the role. It’s interesting because it’s a character role, which is what I usually play, but it’s also the ingenue, which is new to me. It’s fun playing a character who talks in a strange voice and also gets a full on makeout scene.

The show runs Thursdays through Sundays from November 26-December 18. If you’re in the Atlanta area, come check it out!

It’s been two weeks since I’ve updated this, but it’s been a busy two weeks. I had my audition for the Atlanta Unifieds this past Tuesday, and was very happy with how it went. Also, I finished filming Home Sweet Home last Saturday, which was a week later than I had originally planned because of complications that arose, but I’ve learned to expect problems by this point (since they’ve come up in every single film project I’ve ever attempted.) Then on the last night of shooting, there was an interesting moment where I was filming a scene outside the Trade Center that involved an actress screaming bloody murder, and a police car pulled up to ask me some questions. All things considered, though, I was really glad it was the police, because the alternative probably wouldn’t have been good at all.

Now that April is here, it’s time for me to really get to work. I have to get Home Sweet Home edited fairly soon so I can get it to Sean & Will so they can work on the sound & color correction respectively. I also have to finish editing The Dark Side of Sun Rock; I have a self-imposed deadline for that being completed by the beginning of May so I can get it into a few festivals, but more urgently I need to get a few clips from it to my lead actress for her reel. There are a couple of scenes in it that are still driving me berserk because of continuity problems or lack of good coverage which I’m still trying to find solutions for, and which may result in me headdesking until something comes to me.

The other thing I’ve got going on in April is Script Frenzy, the younger cousin of NaNoWriMo. For anyone unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo is a writing event in November where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Script Frenzy is similar, except instead of a novel, the goal is to write a 100 page script in one month. I’ve been looking forward to this since I found out about it a few weeks ago, and set aside one of the screenplays I’d been developing until April for this. It’s entitled Once Bit, and it’s my take on the vampire genre. I’m really excited about it, and can’t wait to see how it turns out. If you’re interested in undertaking this challenge as well, let me know so I can have other people to commiserate with. My user ID on the site is IcyBrian.